<p>Owlice–
Go read the thread on “what thing did your s/d do to let you know they might be maturing after all” in he parents cafe forum. <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parent-cafe/496046-what-thing-did-your-s-d-do-made-you-realize-they-may-become-responsible-adult.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parent-cafe/496046-what-thing-did-your-s-d-do-made-you-realize-they-may-become-responsible-adult.html</a> Our slacker kids are actually showing signs of adultdood! You will be relieved, I promise you! And if your s is spending a Saturday doing robotics, he isn’t a slacker! Now gom go, go. Dont’ be late!</p>
<p>Here’s an idea for a flavor name (just popped into my head). “The fourth of July. Red, white and booze”. I have NO idea where that came from :eek: Better get back to that cuppa coffee :o</p>
<p>Have you ever tried Guinness ice cream? (Yes, it exists!)</p>
<p>I loved the thread about flashes of adulthood, and posted on it earlier. I hope to have more such moments as time goes by!</p>
<p>And on the “don’t be late” – too late! 
He’s doing his first-thing-in-the-morning breathing attempts (allergy season, you know: sneezing, nose-blowing, etc.), finishing his bagel, checking his email and updating his flash drive. At least he’s showered and dressed!</p>
<p>Oh, wait… he’s now upstairs. Maybe brushing his teeth? </p>
<p>We might be only 30 minutes late, w00t!!</p>
<p>^^^^^ LOL!! Late, but still wants to smell good?? There is hope!</p>
<p>owlice: The solution to that is to take him to the ugliest college you can think of and tell him that’s where he’ll end up if he doesn’t work.</p>
<p>When they actually know what they’re working for it’s a little easier. Amazing score for an 8th grader! Wow. You’re right about the potential.</p>
<p>Oh the lounge is getting to be so much fun, with decisions coming in. Thanks all of you for inviting me to your vigil. Jym, sounds like the perfect ice cream flavor.</p>
<p>Since I have no more kids at home (DD has gone back to London) it really is quiet here. H usually works on Sats (his own business), but it’s a quiet day for him, too, so he is off photographing something or other.</p>
<p>Just counseling D is England about a paper. Skype is amazing. They’re always so close!!</p>
<p>Enjoy this beautiful stay. Is it too early to start May 1st planning? I think I’ll hire a band.</p>
<p>Congratulations to lindz126 and university1 for their kids’ great choices! Here’s a cup of coffee raised in their honor: Cheers to them!</p>
<p>My son will make his last two school visits this upcoming week, leaving Monday and missing an entire week of school. It’s a killer. His history teacher had an absolutely horrified look when hearing he would be gone so long. We hope missing so much school won’t kill his grades, but both agreed all his hard work has been about preparing him for college so he needs to take the time to make sure he is making the best choice.</p>
<p>This weekend he has to work on essays for a scholarship submission. When he gets back he will be working hard on make-up work and preparing for exams. I don’t know that he will get a chance to just relax before graduation. And afterward, there’s that little thing about needing a summer job…</p>
<p>Well, it’s best for them to learn that as an adult there really is no relaxing. Lawn doesn’t stop needing mowing because we’re on vacation.</p>
<p>My S is a violinist and any gap effects his technique, so he is really never off, and I think it has been really good for him.</p>
<p>D is never off either, but that’s because she’s a worrier and compulsive planner which S definitely is not. Haha.</p>
<p>2blue: I’m sure it will be fine. Your son will make up the work and still enjoy. And I hope he really enjoys his college visits as well.</p>
<p>2forcollege-- just read your post about the waitlist vigil. I, too, will be here until 3 waitlist schools have been heard from, so once again the mailbox fixation will begin starting May 2nd, I guess…</p>
<p>lindz126, congratulations on your son’s decision…that’s really wonderful! I just picked up a carload from my D’s school that returned from the grad night at Disney last night. She’s now sleeping in our room, having returned home to find 3 boys in hers! (Big sis’ friends from college spending Passover with us). </p>
<p>mythmom, will you have your D in London book Patrick Wolf for the party…my D’s fav!</p>
<p>thanks all–2forcollege–you must be in Fl too–did d enjoy disney? I expect s to wake up this evening–oh and happy passover–cooking here too</p>
<p>mythmom–impressed your d is in england and calling you for support no less love it</p>
<p>owlice–woah your son did amazingly well–the mere fact he took the sat in 8th gr tells me he’s not truly a slacker–remember our 8th graders are more into looking cool so he may be claiming not to work in h.s. for effect. good luck with the waitlist vigil…</p>
<p>Sure. And she saw Johnny Depp at a club. Why don’t I just get her to fly home for the party and bring him along?</p>
<p>Okay, guys. We’ll keep you company for the wait list vigil, too. My kids just threw the wait list letters out, but with some prompting by their mama dutifully send the cards back.</p>
<p>In fact, I must say there were both a bit cavalier in their attitudes. But somehow amazingly enough they each squeezed into their first choice school. (The others were just as lovely, so if you S or D doesn’t, trust me, it doesn’t matter anywhere near as much as it seems to. Truly.)</p>
<p>I am nominally Jewish, though don’t observe or celebrate. Think I’ll have a vigil room virtual seder. All are welcome. All creeds. I’ll get some virtual matzoh. Real matzoh verboten carb.</p>
<p>A friend wrote a truly wonderful poem about the first time she got drunk at her parents’ seder as a young teen.</p>
<p>We saw the Guiness ice cream last night at a place that’s a branch of a Berkeley ice cream institution.
I love this thread! It’s very hard for me to be patient while my daughter is deciding between (among?) SC (full tuition)/Cal/UCLA. We’re all going to Cal this afternoon; if she doesn’t absolutely love it, then the decision will be SC. She got yet another mailing from SC yesterday–they’re doing full out recruiting.
Owlice, you’re wonderful–love the coffee and bagels!.</p>
<p>Just got back from American last night. She liked it more than she thought she would, so still can’t decide between American SIS and GW Elliot. Invited to honors programs at both, more scholarship from American, likes the urban-ness of GW more, I think. I’m thankful we don’t have any waitlists to contend with, just acceptances and rejections!</p>
<p>Congrats to lindz126 and university 1 and their kids!! 2forcollege, acme and others waiting to hear from WL schools - we are all here for you. I wish you all the best.</p>
<p>mythmom - your D saw Johnny Depp at a club!! That is so cool. </p>
<p>Lots of luck to all of you making those last minute college visits - I’m sure your kids will make the right decisions.</p>
<p>Owlice - very impressive score, especially for an eighth-grader! I find it hard to believe your son is a slacker at all. He actually attends classes on a Saturday! I could never get my S to do that!</p>
<p>Owlice,
Your S may be trying to say that he’s going to succeed in HS on his own terms, not on the terms that some of his friends and peers may consider valuable. It is possible for a kid to do it on his own terms – and to be quite successful at it. S1 would argue that he was MORE successful because he pursued what he valued, and that passion showed in everything he did.</p>
<p>S told me after robotics that he was hungry, so we went to Starbucks for lunch. I was hungry, too! He got a tuna wrap (he’s a pescetarian; he had a choice of that or egg salad) and I had a fiesta salad (corn, black beans, chicken, salsa, grape tomatoes, with cumin, cilantro, and a slice of lime). We split an old-fashioned chocolate doughnut.</p>
<p>And now we’re home!</p>
<p>Thanks for your kind words; I appreciate them! However, the kid is definitely a slacker. He’s very bright and tests well; it’s sheer talent for those kinds of tests. (Hyperlexia comes with his neuro-atypical wiring.) He’s a tall information sponge for all kinds of things, but doesn’t crack a book unless he has a specific assignment and someone is going to look at it (and even then, it’s a toss-up as to whether he’ll do it). </p>
<p>He hates spending time on schoolwork. Considers it a waste of his time! He feels the same way about being IN school, too.</p>
<p>Robotics is not a Saturday class, but rather, an opportunity to hang out with other geeky kids, talk about computer games and programming calculators, and sometimes, eat doughnuts that a mentor brings. No doughnuts at the meeting today; no wonder he was hungry afterwards!</p>
<p>mythmom, do you have a nomination for an ugly school? If it’s within driving distance to the DC area, I’ll make sure he sees it pronto!!</p>
<p>2blue, your son can miss a week of school for college visits?! Lucky him!! Does he go to private school? My son’s high school would have major conniption fits, because attendance counts for AYP/NCLB, so they say upfront that college visits are unexcused absences (so students cannot make up work). Good luck to him as he makes the final rounds and comes to a decision!</p>
<p>~~~ </p>
<p>All the waitlist parents…</p>
<p>What happens with this? Do your D/Ss send in a deposit to a school while waiting, and then just see whether they get off the waitlist at another school? And then, if they decide to go to that school, kiss their deposit good-bye? Will they all know sometime soon after May 1, or could this happen throughout the summer?</p>
<p>:: checks the storeroom for supplies ::</p>
<p>:: places fresh food orders for the duration ::</p>
<p>We’re going to be here a while, I see! Good thing we’ve got provisions enough for the wait!</p>
<p>CountingDown, you posted while I was typing. Oh, heavens, I hope that’s it, but… I think he’d have many more options open to him with at least a 3.5 GPA. I don’t really care much what he does, as long as he does what he loves (well, a little productivity might be nice, too, I’ll admit, whatever that productivity might entail!), but I do worry about him having options to pursue what he wants in college.</p>
<p>(I don’t ask that he get straight As, though he is intellectually capable of them with some work. Just a 3.5! That could mean getting an A in his general Health class! Turning in his homework! Doing his homework, or at least more of it than he does! Is that too much to ask?!?! Apparently it is!!!)</p>
<p>I spoke to S who was in the car with H leaving Dartmouth, and he said he would “probably go there.” Heaven forbid that he should commit himself and put me out of my misery!</p>
<p>He then told me about all of the cool and interesting people he met and the interesting classes he went to (one on fairy tales, which he described as “great” and one calculus, which he thought would be difficult, but wasn’t, which is a testament to his brilliant-but-weird math teacher at home), and the good music performances he heard, etc. For his taciturn self, he sounded enthusiastic. (He doesn’t know that my H returned a wait list card for him, but I am pretty sure that he would choose Dartmouth anyway…)</p>
<p>Last night was the seder at my church (we’re UUs). We always serve brisket and cold poached salmon, both of which I usually cook, and people bring salads, vegetables, and desserts. This year I provided the brisket recipe to someone else, who managed to skip a couple of steps, but it was okay if not great. (The kitchen control freak in me was screaming, “This is what happens when I let someone else do it!!”) I poached and chilled the salmon and made a sour cream/cucumber/mustard/dill sauce to accompany it. I’ll hand a platter to Owlice to add it to our vigil spread, for those observing. I also made a 4-layer chocolate dacquoise filled with Espresso Sambuca ganache with lightly sweetened whipped cream on the side. Shall we add it to the feast?</p>
<p>At my kids’ school they actually can take a couple of days for college visits and have it not count towards missing school. It’s a great policy. He used those days for his first visit. These days will count as excused absences and will push him over into the allowable limit so technically he will not be able to receive credit for work due on the day over the limit. That’s why his grade may take a hit. In practice I don’t know if that will happen. The teachers are incredibly supportive, and the administration is quite proud of the college acceptances their kids have received. </p>
<p>Owlice, my second son is also quite capable of straight As but won’t have them. So much of your post sounds familiar. Homework a waste of time? You’ve got it! However, he teaches himself computer programming, and is studying up on quantum mechanics as I type. He spends an incredible amount of time devoted to learning. It’s just not schoolwork. I know what he is capable of, and hope he is able to get into the kinds of colleges where he could absolutely thrive.</p>